Youth Silent Wings Pellet Discovery Workshop - Summer 2020
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Owls are birds of prey. That means they hunt the animals that they eat. Owls eat a variety of things ranging from insects to medium-sized mammals and even other birds! When an owl eats the rodents, birds, and bugs that are a part of its nightly diet, its stomach cannot digest all the parts of the prey for instance, the bones, teeth, fur, feathers, and insect shells. As a result, about 12 hours after they eat a meal, the parts they cannot digest form into a “pellet”. In a small owl, their pellet might be the size of an adult pinky nail. In a large owl, it would be more like a man’s thumb! Owls cough their pellets up and do not excrete them.
Owl pellets are ideal for giving kids the experience of participating in an important method of scientific research while teaching principles of ecology, food chains/webs, animal structure and function, and skeletal anatomy.
Educator, Trish Marki, will bring an owl for us to learn about its behaviors, diet, and other cool facts. Participants will learn about an owl’s pellet and have the experience of seeing what is in the pellet, first-hand! As we dissect the pellets, the children will have a skeletal diagram to help identify bones.
COVID19 REQUIREMENTS
- All participants must wear face masks and provide their own
- Participants should take their temperature before leaving for the program. If a participant’s temperature reads 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit or higher, they will be disallowed from participation in the program.
- All participants will be socially distanced
- Upon entry to the program, participants will have their temperature (non-touch) taken and a brief COVID-19 assessment completed
- Participants will use hand sanitizer at entry/exit points and throughout the program, as needed
- Only registered participants will be allowed to enter the programming areas.
Program Information
- Please note: we will be using sterilized pellets for this program.